When the Colorado River first filled the country’s largest reservoirs decades ago, it ushered in a century of optimism in the West. We planned for abundance. Today, more than 40 million people across seven states, 30 Tribal Nations and two countries rely on this river. … We cannot accept a new set of management rules that deepen hardship for the Upper Basin while allowing unsustainable water use to continue downstream. Water conservation cannot decimate Upper Basin economies to bolster Lower Basin ones. When we use less water, that water flows downstream to be used elsewhere. Colorado and the other upper division states have lived on the front lines of climate change for 25 years; it’s time for the lower division states to do the same.
–Written by Becky Mitchell, Colorado’s commissioner on the Upper Colorado River Commission.

Other Colorado River management news:

• KJZZ (Phoenix): Ariz. cities banked Colorado River water for decades. How much will they be allowed to get back?
• KJZZ (Phoenix): Scottsdale buys $8.25 million of water credits in Harquahala Valley
• KTNV (Las Vegas): Official hopeful as Colorado River states race to reach water deal before deadline
• The Guardian (U.K.): Lake Powell, a vital reservoir, plunges toward unprecedented low levels as water crisis deepens in US west
• Newsweek: Lake Powell should be drained to save Lake Mead, scientists say
• The Washington Post: Opinion: The grinding daily reality of life in the drought-parched West